FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ISOPORA OR ISN’T IT?

Mistaken Identity Leads Researchers To Two New Extinct Species of Coral

Virginia Key, Fla. —
What began as an homage to achievement in the field of coral
reef geology has evolved into the discovery of an unexpected
link between corals of the Pacific and Atlantic. Dr. Ann F.
Budd from the University of Iowa and Dr. Donald McNeill of the
University of Miami named a new species of fossil coral found
on the Island of Curaao — some six million years old
— after renowned coral reef geologist and University of
Miami Rosenstiel School professor, Dr. Robert N. Ginsburg. The
new species, originally thought to be an elkhorn coral (genus
Acropora), a species widely distributed throughout the
Caribbean, was informally christened Acropora ginsburgi
in 1995 on Ginsburg’s 70th birthday.

Still having great difficulty distinguishing fossil acroporid
species, when formally describing the new species, Budd
elicited the help of Dr. Carden C. Wallace of the Museum of
Tropical Queensland, Australia, who recognized why a positive
identification had been so challenging -- the genus was not
Acropora after all, but a Pacific acroporid genus named
Isopora.

Detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal
Palaeontology, scientists sampled 67 localities around
Curaao, Netherlands Antilles and discovered two new species --
Isopora ginsburgi and Isopora curacaoensis. The
coral genus Isopora, a sister group of the modern
dominant Acropora, until now was only known from the
Pliocene to Recent of the Indo-Pacific. Study of large
collections made systematically throughout the area indicates
that Isopora first occurred in the Caribbean during the
Mio—Pliocene, at approximately the same time as the
origination of many modern Caribbean reef coral dominants
including Acropora cervicornis, the well known
“staghorn coral.” The occurrences of Isopora
reported in this study are the oldest records of Isopora
worldwide, and are important for understanding the
biogeographic separation between reef coral faunas in the
Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions.

“We now know that Isopora last occurred in the
region during the late Pliocene, a million years ago as part of
a pulse of extinction, in which several genera that live today
in the Indo-Pacific became extinct in the Caribbean,” said
Budd, “This research has further illuminated that these
corals co-occurred with the two abundant modern Caribbean
species of elkhorn and staghorn corals Acropora (A.
cervicornis and A. palmate), often living
side-by-side with the two newly-evolved common Caribbean reef
corals."

“It is certainly an honor to have a fossil of Pacific
coral from the Caribbean named after me,” said Ginsburg.
“This discovery marks a milestone in my career, and serves
as a special tribute to the decades of research I have done on
these amazing animals which are so critical to our coral
reefs.”

Ginsburg, an explorer, world-class sedimentary geologist,
educator and coral reef conservationist, received his
bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana, and his doctoral degree at the University of
Chicago. He has been associated with the University of
Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric
Science since the 1950s, and served as a long-time member of
the Geological Society of America’s Committee on the
History of Geology.

About the Rosenstiel SchoolFounded in the 1940's, the University of Miami's
Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown
into one of the world's premier marine and atmospheric research
institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the
Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better
understand the planet, participating in the establishment of
environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society
and quality of life. For more information, please visit
www.rsmas.miami.edu